One Cold Suna Night
by Zammie4eva
Summary: um...yeah can't think of a summary for this one. um, basically gaara's upset that naruto's spending all his time foccusing on bringing sasuke back and they fight and...yeah. might be a little rushed. narugaa. total randomness


**One Cold Suna Night**

He hated hospitals.

He really hated hospitals.

He really, really hated hospitals.

Hated their appearance, their smell, their everything.

He just hated hospitals.

He looked to his left to where the red head leaned on the wall, his arms were folded and his eyes tightly closed.

Naruto knew he was awake because of the deep frown etched onto his face.

He looked as though Shukaku was screaming at him, but of course Shukaku was gone, so something else had to be bothering him.

He noticed Naruto's gaze and opened his eyes, frowning at him instead of the wall.

Naruto saw how tired he was.

He had lost much of his chakra in the last twenty-four hours, and with no Shukaku, it made it difficult to get over chakra loss and injuries, though he had hardly any.

Naruto himself had a few injuries, but they weren't too bad thanks to Kyuubi's healing powers.

Two days before, Sasuke had attacked Konoha, and Naruto made his friends protect the village, while he fought Sasuke.

As usual, he tried to get Sasuke to come back, but Sasuke turned a deaf ear to Naruto's pleads, and attacked him.

Naruto was going to kill Sasuke, which would have resulted in his own death, to save the village, but Gaara had interviewed.

Now Sasuke was loose again, and Naruto was focusing all energy on bringing him back.

Gaara's eye twitched dangerously.

"Why do you do this?" Gaara demanded.

Naruto was taken aback. Gaara's voice was nearly always void of all emotion, but this time it was sharp, filled with fury.

Without waiting for an answer, Gaara barged past him, hitting him painfully in the shoulder before stalking out of the room.

_What was that about?_ Naruto wondered.

"Gaara!" Naruto would have gone after him, if the nurse hadn't come in and forbidden him from moving.

While Naruto was being checked over at the hospital, the Kazekage was pacing in his office, ignoring his paperwork.

There was a vicious sandstorm outside, and it all because of Gaara. Actually it was because of Naruto, at least that's what Gaara told himself.

Gaara couldn't stand Naruto's obsession with Sasuke, in truth it made him terribly jealous, a jealousy he knew he had no right to have.

But he felt it either way. He kept telling himself it was just because he was Naruto's friend and he didn't want to see him get hurt, but he knew that was a lie.

He was in love with Naruto.

He had been for a long time, perhaps since after the Chuunin Exams, but Gaara had only noticed it after Naruto had saved him from the Akatsuki.

Of course it had taken Gaara a long time to figure out what it was he was feeling, and even longer to think about what he was going to do about it.

Now Naruto's fixation on bringing Sasuke back made Gaara extremely jealous, the Uchiha was the only thing Naruto thought about anymore!

Naruto used to visit him every two weeks or so, saying he had to make sure Gaara didn't need saving again.

These days Naruto barely slept, he was always training or in some far off country trying to track down his lost friend.

All of Naruto's friends were grateful for this, but even they knew that this had to stop.

It was only hurting Naruto to keep failing, and in turn this hurt the others, seeing him work so hard for nothing.

They were concerned that Naruto wasn't looking after himself, but of course he always denied this, saying he was fine.

Finally Gaara had had enough and had stepped in, now he ruined his chance to explain all of this to Naruto by getting angry with him.

And in truth, he was furious with Naruto. But he knew that Naruto would never give up on Sasuke no matter what anyone said.

In the shinobi world, those who didn't follow the rules are scum, but those who don't protect their comrades are even worse than scum.

That was what Naruto said to justify going after Sasuke. Gaara understood that this was something he needed to do, but it was getting out of hand.

He wasn't helping everyone by going after the Uchiha like he was trying to do, he was hurting them instead.

The sand outside, in response to Gaara's conflicted feelings, began to twist and turn dangerously, threatening to take out several houses in its rampage.

Gaara sat at his desk and started his paperwork, trying to distract himself. It worked for about three hours until Naruto burst through his door.

"Naruto, it's late, what are you doing here?" Gaara asked emotionlessly.

Said blonde narrowed his eyes at the Kazekage, but Gaara determinedly kept his eyes on his paperwork.

"I'm leaving in the morning to pick up Sasuke's trail. I just thought I'd let you know," Naruto said.

Gaara had to refrain himself from breaking his pencil in two. "Wouldn't it be cold by now?" he said flatly.

"It's the only lead we've got, so I'll take the chance." Naruto replied.

"It'll be dangerous."

"What isn't?"

Gaara gave an aggravated sigh through his nose.

"Why do you do this? Why do you always do this?" he muttered.

"You said that before. What do you mean? Do what?" Naruto asked.

"Do what? Did you just say do what?" Gaara looked up coldly, Naruto jumped from the anger in those eyes.

Gaara had never had that look in his eyes before, he'd had that crazy look when he was young, but never cold fury like this.

"Y-Yeah?" Naruto replied as a nervous questioned.

"Do you know what you do to people? You shoulder the burden all by yourself and think you're helping your friends, when really you're just making them guilty,"

Naruto's eyes widened.

"You're making them feel worse about the problem, you're not looking after yourself and they can see that, and they feel guilty about letting you do it to yourself,"

Gaara planted his hands on his desk and stood up, looking straight at Naruto.

"You're killing them, not helping them! Why do you do this to us? Why do you insist on killing us like this? The people you care for you, people who love you!"

"And –" He broke off painfully, looking down at his desktop. He couldn't continue. He throat hurt from all the yelling anyway.

"Gaara…" Naruto's eyes widened to the size of plates when he saw tears dripping onto the desk. Gaara was crying?

"You've forgotten us Naruto, all you ever think about is Uchiha, we can't take this anymore."

"I haven't forgotten about you guys Gaara. And you wouldn't understand what it's like to lose someone you love, I love Sasuke like he was my brother, and I've lost him, there's no way you can understand that." Naruto said.

"I understand perfectly well Naruto," Gaara corrected.

"How?" Naruto challenged getting angry, how could Gaara possibly know how he felt?

"Because I love you, you idiot!" Gaara shouted.

Naruto was taken totally be surprise, whatever he had expected Gaara to say, it wasn't this.

"I love you, and I've lost you. You're still here but not all of you is around, not anymore." Gaara said crying more. He was beginning to sob now.

_Stop being so pathetic Gaara!_ He berated himself, but he couldn't stop.

"Gaara…" Naruto couldn't think of what to say, how long had Gaara felt this way? Why hadn't he seen it before?

"I can do this anymore." Gaara said. In a whirl of sand he was gone.

"Gaara…Gaara!" Naruto called.

He raced out of the office and tried to find where the young Kazekage had gone, but then stopped himself.

_Wait a minute Uzumaki, _he thought,_ leave him for a bit, then go after him. Better yet, figure out how you feel about all this so you can say something to him._

So he went back to his room in the Kazekage mansion to think.

He began to pace slowly around the space of the floor.

Okay, what are the facts here? Fact one: my friends don't want me doing this to myself anymore. Fact two: it's hurting them and I can't have that.

_Fact three: Gaara loves me and doesn't want to lose me. Fact four: what's fact four?_

Fact four: you love Gaara and don't want to do this to him

_Kyuubi?_

_**Who'd you expect? Santa Claus? Yeah it's me**_

_Shuddup. Wait did you just say I love Gaara?_

Sharp as brick as always I see Naruto, and yes I did say that

_Shut up you stupid fox! And I don't love Gaara, I love Sakura-chan…don't I?_

**Ah see? Doubt. That's where it starts. I can't believe you honestly began to believe that yourself**

_What do you mean?_

You don't remember? Look at this

~FLASHBACK~

Nine-year-old Naruto looked in the dirty mirror of his little bathroom.

"Okay me, I did some looking at I've found out something. Boys aren't meant to be attracted to boys. They're attracted to girls. I saw a girl with pink hair today, and since the other boys said she was really pretty, that's the girl who we should be attracted to. So next time you see her, flirt like all the other boys do, but louder so she'll notice you. That way no one will know you don't like girls okay?"

-a week later-

"Good morning Sakura-chan! You look pretty today!" Naruto called smiling.

Sakura frowned. "Would you stop talking to me? I don't like you, now leave me alone."

Naruto did a show of looking disappointed.

_Now what? Give up and go on looking for another girl? No that might not be right, I'll stick with Sakura to be safe_

~END FLASHBACK~

Sixteen-year-old Naruto looked in the clean mirror of his room's big bathroom.

"I forgot about that. I can't believe I convinced myself I liked girls," he whispered.

Exactly. Now think about this, what do you like about Sakura?

Well, um…she's pretty. I like her laugh I suppose, she's a cool medical ninja, she's really tough, um…that's about it I think

Okay, now what do you like about Gaara?

Naruto thought about it for a while.

I like his hair, the way it spikes up in the morning. I like the way he drinks tea, he does it very carefully as if he'll spill it. I like his voice, I can't really explain it in words but I could listen to it forever, only he doesn't talk much…I like the way he holds himself, really strong and calm, he walks very regally too, but he has a gentle side, especially when he's around me, he never gets annoyed enough with me to get mad or send me away, he's very patient, he listens to everything I say no matter what it is, he talks nicely to me, with a smile in his eyes. He smiles when he's with me, he even laughed once, I love that laugh even more than Sakura-chan's, his eyes are beautiful, I'd like to stare into them for hours if he'd let me. I like the way he bites his lip when he's nervous, the way he sighs through his nose and rolls his eyes when I tell a bad joke. He's always kind to me, even if he's in a bad mood, he calms me down when I'm really angry, and he understands because he's been there, where I've been. He knows me. He can see though my fake smile and replace it with a real one –

_**Yes, yes I think that's enough to come to a conclusion don't you think? **_Kyuubi interrupted sounding amused.

Really? I could go onNo, no that's okay. What do you think about all this?Well, I'd have to say that I – I…

"I'm in love with Gaara," Naruto whispered eyes widening.

Okay, so he was in love with Gaara.

Considering that Gaara had just said he'd loved him not two hours before, that shouldn't be a problem. Right? Wrong.

Naruto could find Gaara anywhere. He'd asked Kankuro, Temari, Matsuri, the sand village's council, random people, everyone.

He was just nowhere to be found.

And the sand storm wouldn't let up.

After it had gotten dark Naruto decided to brave the storm and go out to look for Gaara.

It was cold outside, and Naruto hugged himself as he trudged along, trying to keep warm.

The sand whipped at his exposed skin, leaving his hands and ankles particularly raw. It was getting in his eyes, making it hard to see.

Shielding his eyes with his arms made his hands even more red and stinging.

Somehow his headband came loose and flew away in the sea of sand.

Iruka-sensei had given him that headband, he couldn't lose it! Naruto went after it as fast as he could in the storm, trying to grab it.

When he finally managed to catch it, the wind let up a little bit, at least so he could see properly.

He looked up and saw a figure crouched in the sand, the sand was whirling around him, making him impossible to see clearly.

But Naruto knew it was Gaara. His headband had lead him to Gaara. A coincidence? Naruto didn't believe in coincidences.

He put his headband back on and walked towards Gaara.

The sand lashed at him, giving him only seconds to get out of the way.

The sand was on defense, it wouldn't let Naruto anywhere need him.

But since when had Naruto backed down on a challenge? He grinned in anticipation.

He jumped left, made a couple of clones and sent them opposite ways, the sand split to target all three of him.

He ducked and threw a kunai, then jumped right making two other clones to threw kunai.

The sand caught the kunai and Naruto's clones set about combating the sand with taijutsu like he'd seen Lee do in the Chuunin Exams.

He wasn't as good as taijutsu as Lee, but it kept the sand busy.

He jumped and just as the sand was about to catch him, he ducked and rolled underneath, landing in a heap next to Gaara's feet.

Naruto got rid of his clones and the sand made a dome around the real one and Gaara, making it almost pitch black.

There was one crack where the moon shone through, illuminating Gaara's downcast face.

Naruto grinned. "There you are. Everyone's worried about you," he said

Gaara said nothing, didn't even acknowledge he'd heard Naruto.

Naruto pouted. "Come on I know you're not big on chatting but at least a 'hi' would be nice," he said.

He got no response from the red head. He sighed.

Naruto took a chance and settled himself behind Gaara, he felt him tense as he wound his arms around his neck and rested his head on his shoulder.

"Aw come on Gaa-chan, you don't wanna leave me hangin' do you?" Naruto said.

Gaara's flat expression turned angry, he shrugged Naruto off him.

"What do you want from me?" he demanded sharply.

Naruto frowned. This wasn't going as he planned. He folded his arms and huffed.

"Now is that any way to treat the person that loves you?" he said a little hurtfully.

"I – what?" Gaara turned full to him, his expression one of shock, disbelief, confusion and hope.

Naruto grinned and pulled Gaara into his arms, making Gaara fall over slightly and collapse into his chest.

Naruto buried his head in the crock of Gaara's neck, deciding he liked the way Gaara smelled and hoping to inhale more of it.

"I love you, you idiot." He said repeating Gaara's own words back at him. Gaara inhaled sharply and tensed again.

Naruto sighed and tightened his grip around Gaara.

"Stop tensing up it's not like I'm gonna kill you or anything," he said, half-annoyed half-amused at Gaara's reaction.

Slowly Gaara relaxed.

And ever more slowly Gaara shuffled around so he was comfortable, then rested his head on Naruto's shoulder, winding his arms around the blonde's middle.

"You know I don't really care if you're not used to physical contact and affection, you better get used to it 'coz I'm not gonna miss a day to remind you how much I love you," Naruto said pulling back so he could see Gaara.

Gaara looked uncomfortable with this idea.

"Relax Gaara, I won't go too fast, and I won't force you into anything you know that," Naruto said smiling.

Gaara looked down. Then slowly he looked up again. Before Naruto could protest, Gaara closed the distance between them, and kissed him.

It was small, one of those short-and-innocent-first-kiss moments, and when it was over Naruto laughed at the blush on Gaara's face.

Gaara buried his head in Naruto's shoulder, "Shut up." He said.

Naruto laughed harder. "You are too cute Gaara," he chuckled.

Gaara frowned though Naruto couldn't see it, "I doubt that." He said.

"Well I don't. Hehe, that's it you're in for it now, everytime I see you from now on, I'm going to make that blush happen again, just to embarrass you."

"You wouldn't." Gaara looked up. "You would."

Naruto grinned. "Yep. Aw come on it'll be fun! For me anyway."

Gaara sighed. "There's no point in arguing with you, so I'm not going to bother,"

"Right you are. Can we go back now Gaara? I forgot it's freezing out here in the desert,"

"Oh. Right." Gaara removed his sand and the two got up and headed back towards the village.

"You owe me one hell of a massage for making me come out here, look at these tears in my skin because of that sand," Naruto complained.

Gaara looked at Naruto's red raw skin guiltily. "I'm sorry." He said.

Suddenly Naruto was grinning again. "It's okay. But I'm serious about that massage thing, it's happening one way or another,"

"Oh, hey Gaara?" Naruto's voice had changed to falsely sweet tone that Gaara found most unnerving.

"Yes?" he asked hesitantly.

"Can I sleep with you tonight?"

Gaara's face heated up.

"Hahaha, there it is again!" Naruto chuckled. "I didn't mean it like that silly, I just meant next to you, I bet you'd be more comfortable than a pillow,"

Gaara fought down another blush.

"Of course you're probably more exciting than a pillow too," Naruto said slyly.

Gaara blushed again. This was getting on his nerves now!

Naruto laughed. "Ah I love that, I swear that'll never get old."

Gaara scowled. "Keep this up and the answer's no," he retorted.

Naruto suddenly paled, "Aw come one Gaara, I was just kidding. Besides," Naruto slipped his arms around Gaara's waist as they walked.

"You couldn't say no to me could you?"

Gaara sighed, "No. but that doesn't mean I'm happy about it."

Naruto laughed again and let go so they were walking side by side.

What happened about Sasuke you ask? Well, that's a story for another time.

**The end. Hope you liked my little drabble. Review please! **


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